Flexible and semi-rigid clothings are used in different areas of processing textile fibers such as opening or carding fiber material. A flexible or semi-rigid clothing consists substantially of a clothing carrier and the clothing tips. The clothing tips are formed by wire hooks which are U-shaped. In a so-called setting process, the wire hooks are pierced through the clothing carrier at certain distances and in certain arrangements, wherein the ends of the wire hooks protrude out of the clothing carrier and form the clothing tips. The number of clothing tips per unit of area is designated as tip density. The wire hooks are held in the clothing carrier and, depending on their shape and length, as well as on the condition of the clothing carrier, have a certain flexibility. Semi-rigid clothings have stronger wire hooks than the flexible clothings. Likewise, in the case of semi-rigid clothings, the clothing carrier is designed to be stronger in the sense of less flexible than in the case of flexible clothings. From the prior art, a variety of flexible and semi-rigid clothings is known which differ in terms of shape, material and arrangement of the individual clothing tips and clothing carriers. The clothings are mostly used in the form of clothing strips which are fastened on plane surfaces of so-called flats.
From the prior art, different embodiments of clothing carriers are known, wherein they usually are implemented in multiple layers. Known clothing carriers are formed as a fabric composite consisting of a plurality of woven textile layers. Clothing carriers made from a nonwoven or a combination of woven textile layers and nonwoven layers are also used in clothings.
All embodiments of clothings have in common the arrangement of the clothing tips for a certain working direction. The fiber material to be processed is fed past the clothing in a certain direction and thereby processed by the clothing. During operation, the clothing tips are subjected to a force in a predefined direction. This direction of force that is designated as working direction results in a temporary deformation of the wire hooks. According to the arrangement and the elasticity of the clothing carrier, the wire hooks are also moved within the clothing carrier resulting in wear on the clothing carrier. Due to the continuously increasing output of textile machines, the load acting on the deployed clothings has increased as well.
For example, the development in the field of cards has resulted in a high-performance card that achieves a multiple of the production output of older machines. This resulted also in an increase of the carding forces occurring between the tambour and the processing element. The carding forces are generated between the clothing of the tambour and the clothing of a processing element. The working direction of a clothing, and thus the direction in which the carding forces act, corresponds to the movement direction of the fiber material transported by the clothing of the rotating tambour. The processing elements are typically implemented as so-called flats which are distributed over the circumference of the tambour at a certain distance from each other. On the side facing toward the tambour, the flats are provided with clothings in the form of clothing strips. The strips have a greater length in the axial direction of the tambour. Thus, the longitudinal direction of the clothing strip or, respectively, the clothing carrier corresponds to the axis of the tambour. The transverse direction of the clothing strip or, respectively, the clothing carrier extends perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. The transverse direction of the clothing carrier thus corresponds to the working direction of a clothing.
Determining the working direction of the clothing and thus of the transverse direction is important because the clothing is loaded by the occurring carding forces even in this direction. In order to obtain good carding, the clothing should have limited flexibility in the working direction and should nevertheless be fixed through the clothing carrier. This means, the clothing should not lose stability caused by a continuous movement within its flexibility during the carding process; rather, a durable constant flexibility is to be ensured.
The increased load on the clothing carrier has been addressed in the prior art by improving the construction of the clothing. For example, EP 1 020 548 A2 discloses a clothing in which the clothing carrier is reinforced through a thickening toward the clothing tips. Through this, the wire hooks are anchored in the clothing carrier with at least the same length as they protrude out of the clothing carrier for forming the clothing tips. Through this type of anchoring of the wire hooks, the free length of the clothing needles that protrudes beyond the clothing carrier and that is decisive for the movability of the wire hooks is shortened. As a result, the application possibilities are limited.
Another embodiment for reinforcing the anchoring of the wire hooks is disclosed in CH 700 925 B1. It is proposed therein to embed a reinforcement insert into the clothing carrier so as to enable undisturbed swinging of the clothing wires with an adequately strong anchoring of said wires. The disadvantage is that different layers or materials have to be used resulting in a costly embodiment of the clothing carrier.